1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to trays and, more specifically, to a serving tray apparatus having a rigid plate-like beverage container-support portion and a hand/forearm engaging portion.
The beverage container-support portion provides at least one rigid plate-like tray having a plurality of apertures or cavities for receiving and supporting a beverage container in a respective aperture/cavity thereby preventing lateral movement of said container once placed within a respective aperture/cavity.
The beverage container-support portion further incorporates at least one of a pair of mating fasteners for attaching the container supporting portion to the hand/forearm-engaging portion.
The hand/forearm-engaging portion having a longitudinal body provides the mating fastener to said beverage container-support portion fastener whereby the container-support portion is fastened to the hand/forearm-engaging portion that further comprises a downwardly depending hand grip and a channeled forearm brace.
The hand/forearm-engaging portion adds stability to handling the tray by virtue of the hand grip and channeled forearm brace. In other words, as the tray's center of balance changes while the tray is being carried from one location to another and when the tray's containers are removed, it becomes more difficult to balance a serving tray with one hand.
Further more, the terminus ends of the vertically depending hand grip and forearm brace, which is basically a pair of spaced apart downwardly depending wings, are substantially coplanar thereby providing a three point stand for the serving tray apparatus when placed on a horizontal surface, such as a table.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other serving trays designed for serving beverages. While these trays may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention, as hereinafter described.
It is thus desirable to provide a serving tray incorporating a container-support portion and a hand/forearm engaging portion.
It is further desirable to provide a serving tray having spaced apart container-support portion with the top tray having a plurality of spaced apertures and the bottom tray supporting the base of a beverage container.